Tolstoy wrote this as someone highly critical of his contemporaries.
Up to a point and the Fellowes comparison is inaccurate, but it's all narrated from the PoV of patricians. Platon Karatev is the most prominent prole by far, most other non-nobs being background ciphers with brief appearances, and even he is entirely reported as observed by Pierre. It's not Downton Abbey but it never comes within shooting distance of Gosford Park. I just got tired of that perspective.
I kinda like the society bits, tbh. Pretty reflective of the time, when anyone below a certain level simply did not exist in any meaningful sense. It's early days, though. I'm only halfway through part two.
Up to a point and the Fellowes comparison is inaccurate, but it's all narrated from the PoV of patricians. Platon Karatev is the most prominent prole by far, most other non-nobs being background ciphers with brief appearances, and even he is entirely reported as observed by Pierre. It's not Downton Abbey but it never comes within shooting distance of Gosford Park. I just got tired of that perspective.